Changing the Game ...

I have always had an inclination toward changing the game ….

By this, I mean, I was always, for as long as I can remember; slightly dissatisfied with the status quo – with the way things were done – with the way teachers taught, with the way I learned – with the way things could’ve been designed a little better, with the way things were explained to me … etc.

Being a Game-changer is about being curious – about being dissatisfied – about being ill-content with the state of something – and then DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT. And that is the key – the Doing Something; the being dissatisfied part is easy, it’s coming up with a solution or process that leads us toward a better Something, that separates the Game-changer from the rest. Mozart was a Game-changer, as was Charles Darwin, as was Galileo, Isaac newton, Thomas Edison - as was Peter Jackson as was Helio Gracie as was Mohammed Ali, and Robert de Niro and Tiger Woods and Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Lee – the list goes on, and always will …

Game-changers must care little about what others think of them – well, they can care, but they musn’t allow that caring to prevent them from walking their own path. I remember very clearly, some thirty years ago, being ridiculed by the martial arts community for talking about how we should combine stand-up, with takedowns and groundwork. ‘You can’t do that’, ‘those things don’t mix’, ‘why would you want to?’ – and ‘can’t you make up your mind?’ were typical of the comments thrown my way.

Most people, I learned very early, were not as open to the idea of changing the game as was I. Game-changing was seen as a departure from what was already perfectly fine … Game-changing was the habit those who couldn’t get their act together – it was risky business, viewed by most as foolhardy or the business of the desperate. Game-changing isn’t for everyone, it is, quite obviously, only of interest to those who actually WANT to change the Game. And the Game, once changed – will attract a multitude of staunch supporters, all claiming that it needs to be preserved exactly ‘as is’ – because now, finally, this latest model – is JUST RIGHT – and need never be changed again. Many Game-changers will even joined the ranks of those newly converted supporters – but a few Game-changers will rise again and push and prod at the edges until something even better emerges.

JBW